# Why No Miniature Cats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 11, 2005, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716 "2005-10-11T04:48:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716/41 "2005-10-13T04:24:37Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Off topic, I was only able to think of six (lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, puma) unless you’re counting Siberian tigers and snow leopards as seperate beasts. Which they may well be, or I may be “drawing the line” too high and excluding things like ocelots, I was just curious to hear your eight. I was counting [Snow Leopard](http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/agarman/snowlep.htm) (to 75 kg, and sometimes included in _Panthera_ along with lion, leopard, tiger, and jaguar) and [Clouded Leopard](http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/agarman/clouded.htm) (to 23 kg) as well. On looking it up I see that Eurasian Lynx can get to 38 kg, although the Canadian Lynx is listed as only up to 17.5 kg. Also up around 16-19 kg are Spanish Lynx, Caracal, Serval, African and Asian Golden Cat, Jungle Cat and Ocelot. So maybe it would be better to draw the line for “big cats” at Snow Leopard and not include Clouded Leopard since its not much bigger than these others. I thought Clouded Leopards were a bit bigger than that. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716/42 "2005-10-13T04:27:11Z")
To clarify, the Snow Leopard is definitely a separate species from Leopard, and is often placed in a different genus. Siberian Tiger is just a subspecies (_altaica_) of the Tiger _Panthera tigris._ ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716/43 "2005-10-13T10:48:51Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > Miniature cats are just far too puntable. But they’re just the right size for juggling! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716/44 "2005-10-14T12:18:27Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > But they’re just the right size for juggling! > 😉 But much harder to target ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716/45 "2005-10-14T12:23:09Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > But they’re just the right size for juggling! > 😉 Thanks for making me get coffee up my nose! When I read that I got the mental image of kittens - which are now pointy of 5 of their 6 ends - descending on some poor clown. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716/46 "2005-10-14T12:38:36Z")
> [@Snakescatlady](#): > > Thanks for making me get coffee up my nose! When I read that I got the mental image of kittens - which are now pointy of 5 of their 6 ends - descending on some poor clown. Some people juggle chainsaws. Some people juggle cats. Only cat owners really know which one’s more dangerous… ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716/47 "2005-10-14T15:25:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I was counting [Snow Leopard](http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/agarman/snowlep.htm) (to 75 kg, and sometimes included in _Panthera_ along with lion, leopard, tiger, and jaguar) and [Clouded Leopard](http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/agarman/clouded.htm) (to 23 kg) as well. > > On looking it up I see that Eurasian Lynx can get to 38 kg, although the Canadian Lynx is listed as only up to 17.5 kg. Also up around 16-19 kg are Spanish Lynx, Caracal, Serval, African and Asian Golden Cat, Jungle Cat and Ocelot. So maybe it would be better to draw the line for “big cats” at Snow Leopard and not include Clouded Leopard since its not much bigger than these others. I thought Clouded Leopards were a bit bigger than that. I’m mildly curious on the entire genus-level classification of cats today. As I understood it, **all** the smaller cats up through the lynxes and your 16-19 kg cats, plus the cougar (comparable to a smaller “big cat” in size) are genus Felis, while Panthera comprises all the “big cats” except the Clouded Leopard, Cougar, and Cheetah, including specifically the Jaguar, the sole New World member of Panthera. And for some obscure reason the Clouded Leopard is set apart as genus Neofelis. (Cheetahs, of course, are an outlier to the rest of cats, in a separate subfamily.) I presume there are good morphologic and taxonomic reasons for doing this, but I don’t understand them well. Anyone familiar with this and willing to fill me/us in? ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716/48 "2005-10-14T17:11:19Z")
if you are looking for a cat with a more dog like personality then raise it like a dog, play rough with it. leash train it, (definitly more difficult with a cat than a dog) play fetch with it. cats are fun when you treat them like dogs. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716/49 "2005-10-14T17:17:32Z")
I’ve only skimmed this thread, but despite the informative arguments many people have made, it is QUITE possible to breed tiny cats. You might try googling “dwarf cats” (cats with shortlegs), “miniature cats” (smaller than usual), “teacup cats” (bred to make miniatures feel butch) and… well, the class term eludes me (not being a cat person, myself) but there are breed that are bred to remain perpetually kittenish as well. As I understand it, some cat fanciers consider this an abomination, so it isn’t widely discussed in the US. Don’t ask me to explain cat people. The Russian Toy Tobtail (akak “toybob”) has a mature size equal to a 3-4 month kitten (sorry, I can’t be more specific – that’s what it says in the breed definition) Female teacup Persians are a rat-sized 2-3 lbs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-miniature-cats/325716.md?page=2)